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Does Vince McMahon Have His Eyes On Major League
Baseball

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 03 July 2009 11:31:16 AM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

He tried to tackle the NFL with his XFL a decade ago. Does Vince McMahon have his eyes focused on Major League Baseball now??? Watch out Selig, Vinny Mc has an elbow drop with your name written all over it!!!

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http://bapple2286.wordpress.com/2009/07/03/does-vince-mcmahon-have-his-eyes-on-ma
jor-league-baseball/

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Mariners activate rookie reliever Kelley (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 03 July 2009 11:30:46 AM. © MLB News Blog

The Seattle Mariners have activated right-handed reliever Shawn Kelley from the 15-day disabled list and optioned infielder Mike Carp to Triple-A Tacoma. The team said the 25-year-old Kelly would be available for Friday night's series opener against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Kelley is 1-1 with a 1.54 ERA in 10 games as a [...]

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http://www.mlbnewsblog.com/2009/07/03/mariners-activate-rookie-reliever-kelley-ap
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Game 79: Blue Jays @ Yankees

post from The Voice of Yankees Universe on 03 July 2009 11:24:13 AM. © The Voice of Yankees Universe

Today, the Yanks and Blue Jays begin a four-game wrap-around series in which all four games are in the day. Here is the starting lineup:Jeter SSDamon LFTeixeira 1BRodriguez 3BCano 2BSwisher RFMatsui DHCervelli CGardner CFIn my opinion, the last series against the Blue Jays was when the Yankees really began to get hot. They were 14-16 [...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YankeesRumors/~3/KKIP2dg3b3k/

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G76: Rangers bounce back against Angels Tuesday,
win 9-5

post from Rangerfans.com on 03 July 2009 11:21:00 AM. © Rangerfans.com

Well, for the first time in a couple of years, I headed out to the Rangers game to retake the pictures for my seat selector feature here on my site. First done about ten years ago, it's something I've always had fun with, but it is a heck of a lot of work. Once I get the pics all sorted out, I'll update my online feature, and post a story about it.

Anyway, when that was over (I started at 5:10PM and finished at 6:48PM, downed 60oz of Gatorade, and two bottles of water during all of this), I sat down to watch the Rangers game. It's only my third game of the season so far, but I always like just sitting in the last row of the upper deck with my Palm to score the game and my headphone radio. I enjoy those. If the park wasn't so far away, I'd probably go to more. Anyway..

After an insanely long first two innings (an hour), I came to the conclusion that I'd be there for awhile. The Rangers scored three in the bottom of the first, and then gave them right back in the top of the second. It was 3-3 after two. Neither pitcher had much of anything on the mound, and both escaped some situations that would have made the three a much larger crooked number on the scoreboard.

Joe Saunders is a pretty decent pitcher, but not here. Before the game, one of the radio guys (get well Eric!) said that Saunders was something like 0-5 with an ERA in the 12's in our ballpark. This game didn't help. Saunders was hit pretty hard, giving up eight runs on five walks and six hits in just 3.2 innings. He was pretty bad. In fact, in the first inning, I really thought we were going to score six or seven and get him out of there with less than an inning pitched, but he escaped that.

Our offense was propelled by the home run. We had five of them in all. Four off of Joe Saunders. Kinsler led off the game with one. Marlon Byrd had a two run shot later in the first inning. That felt good, as a lot of ours have been solo home runs lately. What felt better though was the three run home run Byrd also had in the fourth inning, which was followed up by a solo shot by Nelson Cruz. David Murphy also added a solo shot in the seventh. The home runs accounted for seven of our nine runs.

Pitching wise, I have to say that Scott Feldman was pretty pedestrian, bordering on awful the first two innings. He completely failed in the shutdown inning, he just looked bad. Which is what makes innings three through six more impressive. After 57 pitches in the first two, Scott settled down, and pitched extremely well in 3-6. He needed about 60 pitches to get through the other four innings, and allowed no more runs. At one point he retired a ton of guys in a row - I forget how many. In fact, had his pitch count not been at 116 after six innings, he probably would have come back out - he was looking QUITE good.

Problem is our pen made the game seem closer than it really was. Going up 9-3 in the ninth, CJ Wilson coughed up a couple of runs. One was unearned, but still. 9-3 would have felt a lot better than 9-5, even though both resulted in a win, and us getting back to just one and a half games out of first.

Still kind of bummed at how far we fell in June, but the win helps ease that a little.

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http://www.rangerfans.com/archives/2009/07/g76_rangers_bounce_back_against_angels
_tuesday_win.html

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Angle of Ball in Play by Pitch Type and Speed

post from Baseball Analysts on 03 July 2009 11:07:00 AM. © Baseball Analysts

Last week I looked at the horizontal angle of a ball in play as a function of the location in the zone where it was hit. Although there is some trend for lower pitches to be pulled more, most of the trend is dictated by the horizontal location of the[...]

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http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2009/07/angle_of_ball_i.php

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Oakland Likes College Middle Infielders Early

post from The Baseball Opinion on 03 July 2009 11:04:22 AM. © The Baseball Opinion

One thing that perked my attention during the 2009 draft was Oakland Athletics' pick of USC shortstop Grant Green with the 13th overall pick. The selection drew my interest for a number of reasons. First, Green had been rated much higher in the weeks[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thebaseballopinion/dfeI/~3/6vGkVt4VJfM/

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Atlanta Braves Fan Confidence Poll

post from Talking Chop on 03 July 2009 11:01:00 AM. © Talking Chop

If it's Friday, then it's the Atlanta Braves fan confidence poll. This poll and therefore your confidence level should encompasses several areas of the team. These areas include, but are not limited to, the team’s ownership, current management, talent, minor-league system, and general playing ability on the field. The poll will stay open for 48 hours, and then the results will be posted and graphed against the previous weeks.

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http://www.talkingchop.com/2009/7/3/936838/atlanta-braves-fan-confidence-poll

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Fish Bites

post from Marlin Maniac | A Florida Marlins Blog on 03 July 2009 11:00:36 AM. © Marlin Maniac | A Florida Marlins Blog

A happy 4th of July weekend from the Marlin Maniac, and here are some links to make the weekend go nice and smooth.- First off, tonight’s matchup between the Marlins and the Pirates at Land Shark Stadium. Chris Volstad looks to bounce back from a[...]

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http://marlinmaniac.com/2009/07/03/fish-bites-070309/

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Game 78 Recap: Phillies 2, Braves 5... OMG a
sweep!

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Mike Gonzalez, left, and Philadelphia Phillies Jayson Werth look for the umpire's call after Werth tried to score from third on a wild pitch in the eighth inning of a baseball game in Atlanta, Thursday July 2, 2009. Werth was out and Atlanta won 5-2.

Browse more photos »

I can't believe we actually swept the Phillies. Our little Braves.

Thursday night's game was a typical Javier Vazquez start -- he doesn't give up a lot of runs, and the Braves don't score a lot of runs for him. Only this time, we actually came back to win the game.

It wasn't the top of the lineup like it had been in the previous two games, tonight the offense came from the bottom of the lineup and Matt Diaz and Casey Kotchman. They had 5 hits between them, including a key double by Diaz in the decisive 3-run eighth inning.

After Diaz came through with the tie-breaking RBI, Garret Anderson pinch-hit for the helpless (0-for-3, 2 SO, 3 LOB) Jeff Francoeur and added two insurance runs with his 5th homerun of the season.

Brian McCann, who scored the wining run in the eighth, helped save the Braves from falling behind in the top inning by hustling back to the wall on a wild pitch and then twirling and throwing a bullet to Mike Gonzalez who sacrificed his body to tag out the runner attempting to score. The opposing manager put it best:

"That's momentum," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "They stopped us. ... That turns the whole game, the whole energy, the brightness of it. They're going back in the dugout thinking, 'Man, we dodged a bullet there. Let's go get 'em now. Things liven up.'"

Diaz now has his average up to .299, and with Anderson at a respectable .287, the .248 with no power hitting Francoeur might find himself Kelly Johnsoned out of an everyday role. Diaz and Anderson aren't names that blow your socks off, but either of them are better at the plate than Francoeur.

"If we keep playing with the same errorless baseball and the great pitching and timely hitting, this team's going to be tough to beat," McCann said.

Timely hitting, then Francoeur need not be in the lineup.

But enough about the negative, let's enjoy this win and enjoy this sweep, and let's hope the team doesn't let up when they play the Nationals this weekend.

Final - 7.2.2009 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Philadelphia Phillies 000002000280 Atlanta Braves 00020003X5101WP: Mike Gonzalez (3 - 0)
SV: Rafael Soriano (7)
LP: Ryan Madson (2 - 4)

Complete Coverage >

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http://www.talkingchop.com/2009/7/3/936563/game-78-recap-phillies-2-braves-5

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G75: Rangers lose to Angels 5-2; drop 2.5 games
back

When Anaheim came into town, I think most Rangers fans weren't particularly looking forward to it. We started the month up four and a half games, and the Angels came into town now up a game and a half. That's not a particularly fun thing when you factor in the sluggishness the Rangers have exhibited the last few weeks. I saw the inbound Angels as something bad. They're not firing on all cylinders either, but right now they seem better than us, and I wasn't thrilled with that mindset.

Game one didn't help most Rangers fans. They dropped it 5-2. Our offense was mostly flat again. Granted, we had eight hits, and three of them were from Marlon Byrd. Outside of the Birdman, just five hits. Two of them were home runs, however. Byrd & David Murphy went back to back in the third inning, but that was the only two runs we got.

Pitching wise, Pidente was more than flat. He wasn't very good. Five innings, five earned runs on ten hits and two walks. Throw in a home run for good measure, too.

The only really positive thing to take out of this game was that our bullpen was great. Four guys combined for four innings. Only two hits and one walk were allowed, but no runs.

But at the end of the game I had a really bad feeling.

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http://www.rangerfans.com/archives/2009/07/g75_rangers_lose_to_angels_5-2_drop_25
_games_back.html

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